Standoff damaging US-China ties: Powell
Asks to meet detainees twice dailyWashington, April 8US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the US-China relationship “is being damaged” by the dispute over the fate of 24 American military personnel held in China, who should be released immediately.

Iran cracks down on
dissidents: 40 heldTeheran, April 8Iranian security forces raided the homes of leading liberal Islamists and arrested 40 people as part of a continuing crackdown on dissent, officials and newspapers said today.

LTTE’s new terms for talksColombo, April 8Sri Lanka’s Norwegian-backed peace process suffered a major set back as Tamil Tiger guerrillas sprang new conditions before entering talks, officials and diplomats said today.

Pak Press ‘far from
free’Islamabad, April 8The military regime’s image of
“hands-off-the-Press” has been tarnished as attacks on the
journalistic fraternity were increasing with the administration
completely turning a blind eye to such problems.

Build trust first, opines BenazirIslamabad, April 8Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says confidence building measures between India and Pakistan are of “vital importance” before the two countries settle down for talks on Kashmir.

2 die in Bangladesh gunbattlesDhaka, April 8One man was killed and 10 were wounded in a gunbattle between rival political groups near Chittagong port city today as Bangladesh braced for a three-day opposition-led strike, the police said.

Nepal ready for talks with Maoists
Kathmandu, April 8Nepal’s centrist government is ready for talks with Maoist rebels to end a bloody conflict in the Himalayan kingdom, Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said today.

Arafat calls Sharon, PeresJerusalem, April
8Palestinian President Yasser Arafat delivered a goodwill message yesterday to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the Jewish Passover holiday after a week of violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

Sophia gaffes rock Royalty
London, April 8A British newspaper has published a transcript of tapes in which Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter-in-law makes embarrassing remarks about fellow royals and leading politicians.

Washington, April 8
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the US-China relationship “is being damaged” by the dispute over the fate of 24 American military personnel held in China, who should be released immediately.

Powell said there was no evidence the USA was to blame for the incident and that the Chinese authorities needed to quickly release the Americans.

“The relationship is being damaged,” Powell told the “Fox News Sunday” programme. “We’ve got to bring this matter to a close as soon as possible ... (to) get our youngsters back and see if we can minimize the damage to our relationship.”

He said intense negotiations were continuing despite China’s fresh demand that the USA apologise for the collision between a navy reconnaissance plane and a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea.

Release of the US crew members must happen soon so the relationship between the two countries is not damaged “any more than it has been damaged,” he insisted.

Powell said Chinese senior foreign policy official Qian Qichen’s renewed insistence on an apology from the United States was “a rebuff.’’ The Chinese Vice-Premier knows “an apology is not what we are looking at this time.”

Earlier, the White House said the USA and China were closer to freeing the crew of a us spy plane held since last week, while again ruling out a formal apology to Beijing over the dispute.

US officials separately described President George W. Bush as “hopeful” that the 21 men and three women would be home “soon and safely,” and as “concerned and persistent” in urging China to release them.

Beijing’s latest call for Washington to apologise for the collision between the us aircraft and a Chinese fighter — whose pilot is still missing — met with “no change” in us refusals to do so, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Beijing: The USA on Sunday asked Beijing for permission to meet the detained crew of the spy plane twice daily even as China restated its demand that Washington take full responsibility for the mid-air collision of the plane with a Chinese aircraft last Sunday.

US military
attaché Brig Gen Neal Sealock who met the 21 men and three women crew at Haikou on Saturday said, “We are working for unfettered daily access to the crew. We’ve asked to see them twice a day.” The crew was in “high spirits” and “very good health,” he added.

Chinese Defence Minister Chi Haotian during his meeting with the wife of missing Chinese pilot Wang Wei said on Saturday that, “the us side should take full responsibility for the collision, and the Chinese armed forces and people will not accept it if us Government attempts to evade responsibility.”

He told Ruan Guoqin, wife of Wang that the search for the missing pilot would continue at all costs.

His comments came soon after the official Xinhua news agency released the content of a letter written by Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen to us Secretary of State Colin Powell, in which China’s top foreign policy expert described as “unacceptable” the American responses in the aftermath of the incident.

The missing pilot’s wife Ruan, has fallen ill since the incident. Chi urged that the best doctors be dispatched to take care of her.

He said that the whole armed forces and nation support Ruan, and they would turn their indignation into initiative to build a strong country with powerful armed forces.

Meanwhile, according to Lu Zhiyi, the commander of the rescue centre, the search for Wang is the largest in scale ever executed by the Chinese navy in terms of number of people mobilised, search area and length of time. By Friday, 757,00 sq km of sea area had been searched.

“Although the hope of Wang Wei surviving is getting slim, we will continue to do our utmost to find him,” Lu said.
AFP, PTI

Teheran, April 8
Iranian security forces raided the homes of leading liberal Islamists and arrested 40 people as part of a continuing crackdown on dissent, officials and newspapers said today.

The raids took place yesterday in the capital and several other cities, where the dissidents, all members of or close to the banned Iran Freedom Movement, were active, newspapers said.

The Freedom Movement is Iran’s leading dissident movement which advocates a pursuit of freedom and democracy through non-violent means.

The movement, which until last month had been largely tolerated despite being formally outlawed, led an interim government after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but was toppled by the Shia clergy for being too “pro-Western”.

It was the second mass arrest of the so-called “religious-nationalist” activists since mid-March, when 21 people were rounded up in a raid on one of their meeting places in the capital. Nine were later released, but the rest have been held incommunicado with no access to lawyers.

Ali Mobasheri, the head of the hardline Revolutionary Court, which ordered the arrests, said the new arrests were prompted by “confessions” made by those already in custody.

“Details are not clear yet, but if the charges are proven further action will be taken against them”,

He told the Iranian Students News Agency, ISNA.

The court had earlier accused the dissidents of plotting to overthrow the Islamic system, newspapers reported.

ISNA said Abolfazl Bazargan, a nephew of former interim Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, was among those held.

“They came yesterday with an expired warrant and searched the house for three hours, despite our objections,” Mr Sabaqqian’s wife told ISNA.

One of the detainees, Ahmad Sadr Haj-Seyyed Javadi, is 84 years old and in ill health, family sources said.

Fazlollah Salavati, a prominent figure in central city of Isfahan, has also been taken into custody.

Former Teheran Mayor Mohammad Tavassoli was among those taken into custody yesterday, the sources said, along with former Interior Minister Hashemi Sabaghian and Khosro Mansurian, a key figure in the Iran Freedom Movement (IFM).

Sabaghian served in Iran’s provisional government following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Also arrested was 84-year-old Ahmad Sadr, a former Seal guard for post-revolution Premier.

Sadr served as a lawyer for secular Opposition leader Dariush Foruhar and his wife Parvaneh, who were slain in 1998 in a series of murders of dissidents blamed on rogue intelligence agents.

The arrests of Sabaghian and Mansurian were announced by unofficial sources late yesterday.

Teheran’s revolutionary tribunal said late yesterday it had arrested members of the Opposition, but did not say how many people had been arrested or release their identities.

“These people, accused of attempts to overthrow the regime, have been arrested in Teheran and the provinces and additional information will be released in the coming days,” said a court statement read on state radio.

Newspapers said security forces had closed down Freedom Movement offices throughout the country.

The judiciary, backed by supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been cracking down on
dissidents and reformers allied with President Mohammad Khatami in a reaction to his campaign for political and social openness.

The wave of arrests and closure of pro-reform newspapers come two months before the crucial presidential elections on June 8.

Khatami, frustrated by repeated setbacks to his reform programme, has expressed doubts about seeking re-election, a position which has cast doubt on the country’s political future. Reuters,
AFP

Colombo, April 8
Sri Lanka’s Norwegian-backed peace process suffered a major set back as Tamil Tiger guerrillas sprang new conditions before entering talks, officials and diplomats said today.

Norway’s top envoy here, Jon Westborg, was expected to brief President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the fresh demands put forward by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas.

“We are committed to the peace process, but a reaction to the new demands must come after the President is briefed,” Director-General of President’s Kumaratunga’s Press Office, Ariya Rubasinghe said.

The LTTE said in a statement yesterday that they made it plain to the Ambassador Westborg that they would not come for talks as an outlawed organisation.

The Tigers also rejected the easing of economic sanctions by the Sri Lankan Government last week as inadequate and wanted among other things, cement and fuel, sent to areas held by them.

Military officials said cement was considered highly controversial as in the past the LTTE made use of ceasefires and peace talks to stock up on cement to build bunkers and resume military operations against the government forces.

The Tigers are also demanding that the government reciprocate the unilateral truce they declared on Christmas Eve and have been extending every month till April 24. The Tigers have said they would pull out of the truce unless the military agrees to reciprocate it.

Diplomats said the LTTE’s latest position has dashed hopes of an early face-to-face meeting as the new demands would now have to be thoroughly discussed with the Sri Lankan Government.

Mr Westborg, who crossed army lines and travelled to the Wanni stronghold of the LTTE on Friday held talks with LTTE’s political wing leader, Thamil Chelvam. They discussed for six hours on Friday and another two hours yesterday.

“Mr Westborg assured the LTTE’s political wing representatives that he would discuss the issues raised by them with the Sri Lanka and Norway Governments,” the LTTE said.

On the other side, the LTTE freed four hostages to mark Mr Westborg’s visit to the Wanni.

The release of the four prisoners who had been held for eight to four years in LTTE custody came as Mr Westborg left the Wanni last afternoon. It was the third group of captives released by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in five weeks. Two fishermen were freed at the beginning of March and four farmers later that month.
PTI, Reuters

Islamabad, April 8
The military regime’s image of “hands-off-the-Press” has been
tarnished as attacks on the journalistic fraternity were increasing
with the administration completely turning a blind eye to such
problems.

The Friday Times in its editorial remarked that the military regime of Pakistan, like the Nawaz Sharif’s administration, had lost the support and sympathy of key countries when it tried to gag journalists.

“In fact, he (Gen Pervez Musharraf) is quick to flaunt press freedom as a key element of his novel return-to-democracy agenda,” the paper commented and said “but a degree of disquiet, even alarm and fear, is in the air.”

Citing several examples of atrocities on journalists, including daylight killing of some scribes or hounding a few of them, the paper asked “who are these people and how are they able to roam the streets of Islamabad?”.

Commenting on the role of the administration, the paper said “last November, three employees of a daily paper in Karachi died in an inexplicable bomb explosion in their office. Words of sympathy and solace apart, the (military) regime remains totally disinterested in investigating the incident, tracking down the culprits and determining the motives.”

The Friday Times said “it is, however, the sacking of The Frontier Post in Peshawar by zealots some months ago that has tarred the painstakingly contrived press-friendly image of the (military) regime.”

The paper said even the gruesome murder of a Sindhi scribe was witnessed, besides the banning of a newspaper in the northern areas (area of Jammu and Kashmir illegally annexed by Pakistan) and hounding its Editor during the military regime.

“The journalist community is buzzing with speculations but no one is taking names, explaining motives or investigating the facts in print,” the paper said, adding that “this does not bode well for the regime.”

“In time, the world will wake up to the plight of the local press and General Musharraf will lose the key to his showcase of democracy,” the paper said.

In a word of caution, the editorial commented “restrain the rouge elements, Gen (Musharraf), before they stir a hornets’ nest and harm you irretrievably.”
PTI

Islamabad, April 8
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says confidence building measures between India and Pakistan are of “vital importance” before the two countries settle down for talks on Kashmir.

“We have diverse point of views. We do not accept India’s point of view, neither they accept ours. Confidence-building measures are of a vital importance to overcome the problem,” she told the Middle East Broadcasting Centre in an interview.

Ms Benazir said as a first step, New Delhi and Islamabad could make efforts to resolve bilateral disputes other than Kashmir and restore bilateral trade.

“Such steps would hopefully remove misunderstandings and restore confidence between the two countries. The Kashmir issue should be taken afterwards,” she added.

Ms Benazir, who is on a self-imposed exile and lives in London and Saudi Arabia, last week got a psychological boost when the Supreme Court set aside a Lahore High Court conviction against the former premier and her husband Asif Ali Zardari and ordered a re-trial of the corruption case. PTI

Dhaka, April 8
One man was killed and 10 were wounded in a gunbattle between rival political groups near Chittagong port city today as Bangladesh braced for a three-day opposition-led strike, the police said.

Golam Hossain, a leader of the League chapter of Satkania town, near Chittagong, died instantly when several gunmen wearing women’s veils opened fire in a market. The other man died of his injuries in a hospital.

The fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which has a stronghold in the area, was blamed by the police for the killings. Jamaat could not be contacted immediately for comment.

Tension gripped Satkania and also Chittagong following the killings.

The Jamaat is a member of a four-party opposition alliance, headed by former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, which has called for a 72-hour country-wide strike from tomorrow.

Bangladeshi business leaders today expressed grave concern over the growing political confrontation which they said was hurting production and exports.

“Marathon strikes have been causing serious impediments to the country’s economy,” said the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr Yousuf Abdullah Haroon.

“Frequent hartals (strikes) might break the country’s economic backbone and push it behind competitors in the world market,” said the president of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries, Mr A.K. Azad.

Earlier, they said, Bangladesh suffered production and export losses worth $66 million every day there was a strike.

The opposition says the strikes are aimed at forcing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and hold an early election.

Ms Hasina’s current five-year term ends on July 13. She has refused to step down.

Ms Khaleda, chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said in a statement yesterday that the government was “conspiring to keep the opposition out of the next polls”.

She warned that the BNP would foil any move by Ms Hasina to perpetuate her rule. Reuters,
AFP

Jerusalem, April 8Palestinian President Yasser Arafat delivered a goodwill message yesterday to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the Jewish Passover holiday after a week of violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel Radio said Mr Arafat spoke by telephone with Sharon to wish the Jewish people a happy holiday and also invited leftist Mertez party leader Yossi Sarid to meet him in the next few days.

A Palestinian official said Arafat also spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and expressed hope that stalled peace talks would resume.

Mr Sharon’s office said his response to Mr Arafat’s gesture on the eve of Passover, which commemorates the Israelites Biblical exodus from Egypt, was guarded and Mr Sharon took the opportunity to reiterate his demand that violence stop before peace talks restart.

The conversation came on a day of confrontations in the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli army reported on Saturday night shooting near Ramallah and the Jewish settlements of Psagot and Ariel in the West Bank.
Reuters

LONDON, April 8
A British newspaper has published a transcript of tapes in which Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter-in-law makes embarrassing remarks about fellow royals and leading politicians.

According to today’s editions of the ‘News of the World’, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the 36-year-old wife of Prince Edward, ironically referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair as “President Blair.”

She described Camilla Parker-Bowles, lover of heir to the throne Prince Charles, as “number one of the top 10 unpopular people”.

Finance Minister Gordon Brown was criticised for having “Snuck in... Frightening” tax rises through the back door, and his Budget unveiled in March was dismissed as “pap.”

Sophie, a public relations executive, also said she opposed the government’s plan to ban fox hunting with hounds.

On the issue, she said, Blair was “ignorant” of the realities of life in the British countryside while his wife Cherie was “even worse, she hates the countryside,” according to the transcript.

Sketchy details of Sophie’s remarks were leaked to a newspaper last week but the 10 pages of transcript printed in the ‘News of the World’ will make it harder for the Buckingham Palace to dismiss them as inaccurate.

The “Sophiegate” affair has rekindled the debate over whether the royal family has any role in modern British society.

Sophie has been under intense pressure to ditch her private business interests because, according to critics, it puts her in a position where the dignity of the monarchy can be undermined.

Potentially more damaging than her own remarks are comments made by her business partner and friend Murray Harkin, who purportedly said he enjoyed cocaine and would introduce company clients to young gay men.

He is quoted as saying on the tape: “The odd line of coke I quite like.”

The recording was made by a journalist from the ‘News of the World’ who went to Sophie’s public relations firm masquerading as an Arab
sheikh who wanted to put some business her way.
AFP

WORLD BRIEFS

7 AMERICANS DIE IN
COPTER CRASH
HANOI: Sixteen persons, including seven US searchers for Vietnam War missing, were killed when a Russian-made helicopter crashed into a mountain in central Vietnam on Saturday, a US Embassy spokesman said. “The Embassy has been informed by the Vietnamese authorities that a helicopter went down in Quang Binh province this afternoon with seven Americans and nine Vietnamese aboard, including crew,” the spokesman said. It identified the helicopter as a Russian-made MI-17.
Reuters

12 ABU SAYYAF REBELS CAPTURED
MANILA: Philippine troops seized 12 members of a Muslim extremist group after a battle in southern Jolo
island, on Sunday. Soldiers were conducting clearing operations in a remote village in Jolo’s Talipao town when they encountered a group of heavily armed Abu Sayyaf guerrillas on Saturday, the military said.
AFP

FIRST SPACE SHUTTLE ANNIVERSARY HELD
CAPE CANAVERAL: Hundreds of aerospace workers gathered at the Kennedy Space Center to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight on Saturday. Columbia lifted off on April 12, 1981, from NASA’s pad A, just 9.6 km from where the crowd gathered to enjoy barbecued chicken and swap stories about the first shuttle launch. Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, who rode Columbia into orbit that historic morning, mingled with everyone from the long-retired launch director to the men who wielded the wrenches.
AP

ACTING SPS HEAD NAMED
BELGRADE: The Serbian Socialist Party (SPS) named an acting president on Saturday at the request of its arrested leader Slobodan Milosevic, a party statement said. “At the proposal of its leader Slobodan Milosevic, the main board of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) appointed Zivadin Jovanovic as the first man of the party,” the statement said.
Reuters

TALE OF 4 TEACHERS AND 7 PUPILS
BENGKULU: A primary school in Indonesia has nine classrooms, four teachers but only seven pupils. The school with excess facilities is to located in Rejang Lebong Bengkulu district. Many other schools in the province suffer from chronic shortage in both respects (teachers and students), the leader of “Committee to Promote the Improvement of Teachers’ Welfare” said adding, “The school is located in an isolated and sparsely-populated area where it is believed many school-age children are not going to school”.
Antara

3 TEENAGERS PARALYSE CITY
WARSAW: Streetcars ground to a halt and TV screens faded when three Polish teenagers fooling around at an electricity sub-station left the city of Bydgoszcz temporarily without power on Saturday, the police said. One boy was rushed to hospital with serious injuries after touching high-tension installations and short circuiting the local power supply. The other two were less seriously hurt, the police said.
AFP

MUMMY FAKE, MURDER PROBE SOUGHT
KARACHI: A mummified “princess” found in Pakistan last year has been decried a fake by experts here who have called for a murder investigation linked to the body, officials said. “After detailed studies of scientific and non-scientific methods, it is quite evident that this object is a fake,” local museum curator Asma Ibrahim said on Saturday in an 11-page report.
AFP

SWISS INDICT, ARREST

EX-KREMLIN OFFICIAL
GENEVA: A top aide to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin was on Saturday indicted on charges of money laundering and membership in a criminal organisation, capping more than two years of dogged investigations by Swiss justice officials. Pavel Borodin, who holds the largely ceremonial post as Secretary of the Russia-Belarus union, was formally charged by the Swiss authorities investigating magistrate Daniel Devaud just hours after the police escorted him off a Swissair flight from New York.
AP

SITE FOR CLASSROOM

CHEATS
HAS MOST HITS
ROME: One of the most-visited websites in Italy — 30,000 users a day — is one providing classroom cheats with readymade essays and homework answers, a news report said on Saturday. Users have posted 15,000 Latin translations, maths answers and essays on the site www.studenti.it.
DPA